Posted on 03/03/2003 1:08:05 PM PST by Norm640
US told to play by trade rules
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy on Monday called on the US to "play by the rules" in international trade disputes, saying that European officials are running out of patience.
"Thus far Europe has held off on retaliation (unlike the US, which imposed sanctions on hormones and bananas at lightning speed)," Lamy said in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that appeared during the first day of a visit here.
"But without concrete steps toward compliance, that is not a situation which can be maintained for much longer."
Lamy wrote that meetings of the World Trade Organisation's dispute settlement body "have become a litany of complaints against the US and its failure to implement WTO findings".
Lamy added, "The US faces no less than five cases where implementation is overdue, four of them brought by the EU. This is not counting others where the WTO legal process has recently concluded against the US."
One of these is the so-called Foreign Sales Corporation export subsidies case, where Lamy said the European Union has been awarded the right to impose $US4 billion ($A6.6 billion) in trade sanctions, "and where we are now consulting member states on the products potentially affected."
"Five outstanding cases is a lot in any context, and let's not forget that the WTO also has to pronounce on US steel tariffs," he said.
Lamy said EU officials understood that some changes in US law need congressional approval and "that is precisely why the EU has been rather accommodating -- some say too accommodating -- in giving the US extra time for implementation on a number of these cases."
But he said this situation "sets a poor backdrop to the negotiations on a new round of trade talks, the Doha Development Agenda," with developing countries yet to be convinced that it is in their interests.
"If they see either of the two big players disregarding common obligations, we will find it even harder to persuade them to move forward," Lamy said.
"Let's agree to make 2003 the year of WTO compliance. It's one thing for the big powers of the WTO to rule the waves. What we can't afford to do is waive the rules."
They also have a 15-1 vote in the WTO. For some reason, though the EU speaks with once voice, and is a supposed financial state, it gets fifteen damn votes. Sound unfair? It is.
I'd rather live in a ditch and eat stale crackers in the rain than live in Europe or give credence to their power-hungry motives.
All your rules are belong to U.S.
I am aware that these controveries over WTO "rulings" between the EU and the US have been going on for quite some time. But the timing of this piece of effrontery is deliberate . He is trying to show to the unaligned Third Worlders that if they align with the EU, they can "push around" the US. Lamy wants the Third World to think that the EU is equal to the US, possibly more powerful. That's what's behind Chirac's posturing.
MM
Wondered about this one myself but in the UN/NATO context. While these nations share a common currency it seems a bit obvious that they should not have more than one vote on any issue. It is unfairly stacked to the advantage of their common interests when dealing with other nations.
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